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A trio of former Mississippi State University baseball players that currently serve as professional baseball scouts will share the podium as guest speakers at the 13th annual “First Pitch/Meet the Team” baseball celebration Thursday, February 18 on the MSU campus. This year’s program lineup joins an impressive array of featured speakers, including best-selling author and MSU alumnus John Grisham.

The award-winning British author of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling has topped the list of the bestselling authors of the decade. Modern legal thriller legend John Grisham, who ranked sixth, sold 9,862,998 copies for $105 million.

In his first collection of short stories, John Grisham takes us back to Ford County, Mississippi, the setting of his first novel, A Time to Kill. Featuring a cast of characters you’ll never forget, these stories bring Ford County to vivid and colorful life. This wholly surprising collection reminds readers once again why Grisham is one of America’s favorite storytellers.

When best-selling novelist John Grisham returned home to DeSoto County in November 2009, his latest book, “Ford County,” had climbed to No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. No copies were to be found at the Hernando Public Library, the place where Grisham had his first book signing two decades ago. All available copies had been checked out.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has chosen John Grisham to speak at its 2010 spring Commencement on May 9, university officials announced. “John is an engaging speaker who will have a profound message for our graduates and their families,” UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp said. The program will begin at 9:30 a.m. in UNC’s Kenan Stadium.

John Grisham did not have to write a book in 2009. Financially, he never has to type another word. “But I get bored,” says Grisham. “One day last January I was sitting around at our house in Charlottesville watching it snow and I said, ‘I’ve got to do something.’ “ That was the beginning of Grisham’s newest book, Ford County, his first collection of stories.

John Grisham is worried about the future of the printed word in the wake of deep discounting of best-sellers by major retailers and the advent of e-book readers like Amazon’s Kindle. “Truthfully it doesn’t affect me — in the short term,” Grisham told Matt Lauer on TODAY. “But it’s a disaster in the long term.”

John Grisham will appear on NBC’s Today Show Tuesday, November 3 to discuss his new collection of short stories, Ford County. Ford County is an upcoming book with collection of stories by John Grisham that will be published on November 3, 2009. The book includes 7 short stories, all set in Ford County which is the locale for A Time to Kill.